Category: 3D Printing Materials
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How ULTEM 3D Printing Is Rewriting the Rules of CubeSat Design
Launching hardware into orbit has always been expensive, but the economics of modern spaceflight are making lightweight engineering more important than ever. With launch costs approaching $7,000 per kilogram on rideshare missions, every gram matters. That reality has pushed aerospace engineers toward industrial additive manufacturing, where high-performance thermoplastics are helping redefine how CubeSat components are…
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How 3D Printing Is Winning the Drone Industry’s War Against Weight
Since the earliest days of aviation, every aircraft including drone crafts has operated under the same equation: lift versus weight. Every fastener, bracket, overlap, and unnecessary gram reduces flight time, payload capacity, and range. For more than a century, aerospace engineers have fought this battle one gram at a time. Today, additive manufacturing is changing…
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Why ULTEM™ PEI Changed Industrial 3D Printing: A Brief History
In the late 1970s, GE Plastics invested roughly $50 million into developing a single polymer. Adjusted for inflation, that represents nearly a quarter of a billion dollars spent on one material. The result was ULTEM™ polyetherimide (PEI), a high-performance engineering plastic that would eventually become indispensable in aerospace, medical devices, and industrial manufacturing. Today, ULTEM…
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Oil & Gas Downhole Success: Why 3D Printed PEEK Parts Are the New Standard
The future of additive manufacturing in oil and gas is no longer experimental. High-performance polymers like PEEK are moving from research labs into critical field applications where components must survive extreme temperatures, crushing pressures, and harsh chemical environments. Why a Small Backup Ring Can Make or Break an Oilfield Operation Imagine a component no larger…
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What is PPSU Plastic? Properties, Uses & Benefits
Most plastics fail quickly when exposed to extreme heat, pressure, and chemicals. Put them through repeated steam sterilization cycles and they warp, crack, discolor, or completely fall apart. But one material keeps showing up in environments where failure simply is not acceptable: PPSU. Polyphenylsulfone, better known as PPSU, has become one of the most important…
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NASA’s Orion Spacecraft Now Flies Nearly 200 3D Printed Parts
In just over a decade, NASA’s Orion spacecraft program has transformed additive manufacturing from a small flight experiment into a major part of spacecraft production. Orion’s first flight test in 2014 carried only four 3D printed components. Artemis I, the uncrewed lunar mission launched in 2022, reportedly flew with more than 100 additively manufactured parts.…
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How 3D Printed Drones Are Reshaping Modern Manufacturing and Warfare
For more than a century, military manufacturing followed the same blueprint: giant factories, centralized supply chains, specialized tooling, and production cycles measured in years. That model is now being disrupted by something radically different. Desktop 3D printed drones. The Rise of the Decentralized Military Factory Across Ukraine, thousands of consumer-grade 3D printers are operating continuously…
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The PPA Power Move: From Automotive to Industrial 3D Printing
High temperature nylon, commonly known as PPA or polyphthalamide, did not emerge from a laboratory experiment looking for futuristic plastics. It was born out of failure. As automotive engines became smaller, hotter, and more powerful during the 1990s, traditional nylon materials reached their breaking point. What followed was a major shift in polymer engineering that…
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Stratasys 3D Printing Alternatives: Breaking Free from Proprietary Ecosystems
Why engineers and manufacturers are rethinking industrial 3D Printing FDM workflows and embracing open-material platforms. The $15,000 Question: Who Is Industrial 3D Printing Really Built For? Engineers are trained to optimize performance, validate geometry, and select the right materials for the job. Yet, when it comes to industrial 3D printing, many are forced into rigid…
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ULTEM (PEI) for 3D Printing: Properties, Applications & Why Industries Trust It
ULTEM, known chemically as polyetherimide (PEI), is not just another plastic. It represents a deliberate leap in material science, engineered to compete with metals in some of the most demanding environments. Today, it stands as one of the most important high-performance thermoplastics used in aerospace, electronics, and additive manufacturing. The Origin of ULTEM: Engineered for…
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PPS Polymer Explained: The Engineering Plastic That Sounds Like Metal
Most plastics sound dull when dropped on a hard surface. Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) is different. Drop a PPS part on concrete and it produces a sharp metallic ring. That sound is not a coincidence. It reflects the underlying molecular structure that gives PPS exceptional stiffness, chemical resistance, and dimensional stability. Why Engineering Polymers Like PPS…
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Why Nylon 12 Became One of the Most Trusted Engineering Plastics
In the early days of plastics entering automotive engineering, nylon looked like the perfect solution. It was strong, lightweight, inexpensive, and easy to mold. Engineers quickly used it for gears, brackets, bushings, and hoses. Naturally, someone decided it should work for fuel lines as well. That decision exposed a serious flaw. Early nylon absorbed humidity…
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3D Printed Parts Are Already Flying on Commercial Aircraft
Right now, there are aircraft in the sky carrying hundreds of thousands of 3D printed parts. These are not prototypes, demo components, or experimental test pieces. They are certified, flight-ready production parts manufactured using industrial additive manufacturing and high-temperature polymers. If you have flown within the past five years, there is a strong chance you…
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Why Engineers Created PEEK — and Why It Changed Everything
For decades, engineering design was defined by compromise. Strength meant metal. Lightweight meant plastic. But the moment heat, chemicals, steam, or cyclic stress entered the equation, both options began to fail. PEEK was created to break that deadlock—and it quietly reshaped modern engineering. The Engineering Trade-Off That No One Could Solve Throughout modern engineering history,…
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3D Printing a Helicopter AC Duct That Can’t Fail
A new helicopter AC Duct for what once carried missles. What sounds like a simple retrofit turned into a high-stakes aerospace engineering challenge that perfectly illustrates why additive manufacturing has changed what’s possible in aviation. The Engineering Constraint That Changed Everything The mission was clear: retrofit an air conditioning system onto a converted military helicopter.…
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The Airplane Crash No One Should Ignore
Imagine your life depending on a piece of plastic with about the same heat resistance as a fast-food straw. That’s not a thought experiment—it’s exactly what happened when a single 3D printed component failed and caused an airplane crash on final approach. The Incident: Airplane Engine Failure at 500 Feet A highly experienced pilot, with…
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Tuning PEKK 3D Prints with Dual Nozzles on the 22 IDEX
Optimizing support removal with 3DXTech HTS material, Z-offset calibration, and nanopolymer adhesives for industrial-grade performance. Why This PEKK Print Needed More Than Standard Support When a customer requested a functional part for use inside an engine bay, it introduced tough challenges: exposure to oil, heat, and dripping fluids. The print demanded high mechanical strength and…
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Save Big on Stratasys Materials with Triton 3D
Cut your material costs with Triton 3D by up to 60% without changing your workflow. The Problem with Stratasys Materials If you run Stratasys® 3D printers, you already know the pain—locked-in, proprietary cartridges with embedded chips that force you to buy OEM filament at sky-high prices. Once the programmed volume runs out, that cartridge is headed straight…
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Polycarbonate Filament: The Ultimate Guide to 3DX Max PC
Polycarbonate isn’t your average hobby filament — it’s an engineering thermoplastic trusted in applications from riot shields to headlamp lenses. 3DX Max PC is as close as you can get to unfilled, pure PC in filament form. With a glass transition temperature of 147 °C and a heat deflection temperature of 135 °C under load, it’s one of the…
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Nylon 12 vs Nylon 6 for 3D Printing: What You Need to Know
Dimensional stability or brute strength? We break down when and why to choose PA12 or PA6 for your next 3D print. What Is Nylon 12 (PA12)? Nylon 12, or PA12, is a high-performance polymer known for its dimensional stability, low moisture absorption, and ease of printing. It features longer molecular chains compared to Nylon 6,…